CA to ramp up surveillance of BBL following betting concerns

Sydney: Cricket Australia (CA) is set to increase scrutiny of their domestic competition the Big Bash League (BBL) following concerns that the emerging Twenty20 tournament is more vulnerable to the corrupt betting practices. The CA is also set to review its integrity systems in the wake of the Australian Crime Commission report, which revealed that country’s sports like cricket, tennis and football were infested with drugs and organised crimes on a large scale. However, CA boss James Sutherland said there was no evidence linking the findings of the report to Australian cricket.

Sutherland added the most alarming aspect of the report was the nexus between drug use and corruption in Australian professional sport, but he had been given no evidence of performance-enhancing drugs, links to organised crime or match-fixing in Oz cricket. Sutherland claimed they are as confident as they can be about the integrity of the BBL,a s they have their own anti-corruption unit, which monitors every suspicious activity. Still, senior cricket figures recognise that the emerging Twenty20 competition is vulnerable to corrupt activity because the games are televised live on the subcontinent, where there is a vast and unregulated illegal betting industry. Sutherland said that is networked through to the International Cricket Council (ICC), who has its own anti-corruption unit, and added they work very closely with them, with information not just about the Australian betting market but the global betting market. Sutherland added of course, this report heightens their awareness of risk and they will only be taking a step up, in terms of the support around our integrity unit, to protect the Big Bash and all other cricket matches played in Australia. ANI